The paid parking stations of Yerevan cannot be said to have been privatized; they have been simply handed over to an organization responsible for services, a deputy mayor has said, adding that the initiative belongs to the city authorities.

Speaking to Tert.am, Aram Sukiasyan explained that companies delivering the service will receive part of the fee for installing surveillance cameras, ensuring cleaning activities etc. “By the municipality’s decision, the paid parking services will be effective beginning September 1, but the society will be informed in detail of the regulation before that,” he said.

Asked whether it is planned to direct part of the sum to the community budget, Sukiasyan answered in the positive.

As for the drivers’ safety concerns, the deputy mayor said he doesn’t find them quite justified. “I don’t think the parking stations today are safer than they will be tomorrow. I am sure this will ensure an incomparably higher quality,” he answered.

In later comments to Tert.am, a spokesperson for the Yerevan City Hall, Arthur Gevorgyan, said the Law on Duties for Parking Vehicles makes plainly states all the procedures.

“The territory is not under private ownership but Yerevan, as a community, is obliged to hand it over to an entrepreneurs because it doesn’t have the right to engage in an activity pursuing profit,” he said, adding that further concerns over possible gaps had better be addressed to the National Assembly.